Duplicate-whist board



(No Model.) 0. .N. DAMAN.

DUPLICATE WHIST BOARD.

N0. 604,188; Patented May 17,1898.

INVENTOR Shark N, Damaw WiTNESSES: M/Uw W BY ATTOR N EYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OHARLESN. DAMAN, on SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

DUPLICATE-WHIST BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 604,188, dated May 17, 1898.

Application filed May 27, 1897- Serial No. 638,485. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES N. DAMAN, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Duplicate Whist Boards, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to duplicate-whist boards, and is designed to furnish means for more securely holding the several hands in their respective positions to prevent accidental slipping out or dislodgment during the necessary handling and the shifting from one table to another.

My object is to produce a board provided with improved card-hand holders or grips arranged to hold each hand in a line at a right angle to the adjacent hands.

Figure 1 shows a plan view of one of the boards with three hands in position. Fig. 2 is a view of the card-retaining grip detached. Fig. 3 is a section through a portion of the board, showing the grip secured to the board.

Each holder or card-grip comprises a bifurcated or double gripper created by bendinga suitable wire into a U shape, more or less, having arms diverging more or less, in order to grip the card-hands transversely upon two separate transverse lines, each arm being formed in a pivotal coil of a size adapted to project the arms above the board substantially the thickness of a whist-hand. The ends exterior to each coil are inserted into and through a suitable board and there secured by riveting or otherwise, to the end that the arms will lie in the plane of the topmost card of the hand, so that the latter is doubly gripped along the entire length of the separated transverse lines of said arms exterior to their pivots.

a is a suitable board having notches b in its edges and provided with a pointer c to indicate the correct position of the board and also having the word Leader in a suitable position upon the board to indicate the player who is to open the play of the board, or any other suitable devices can be used to indicate the position of the board and the opening player.

There are four card-hand grips or holders (1 arranged upon the board to hold the cardhands by ajdouble spring-grip, each composed f a piece of spring-wire having its free ends first bent inwardly toward each other and in the same plane, creating a more or less U form in outline, the arms being more or less out of parallelism. Each arm is then bent to form the coil e, and its free end f, exterior to the coil, is inserted into or through the board and there secured in any suitable manner, as by riveting. A washer 9 projects outward under the coil and prevents it from wearing or abrading or digging into the board and loosening said arm. Each pair of coils being equidistant from the edge of the board, they thus form abutments to guide the cards into position when inserted under the grip and also tend more or less to aid in holding them and preventing them from twisting or turning. The respective pairs of rivets being arranged at a right angle to each other, the card-hands are presented edgewise to each player and a central box is created bounded by the four innermost rivets to receive the chips or checks used in counting tricks. These eight coils form supports between two adjacent boards, as also bodies of the four grips, to separate them sufliciently (about the thickness of the wire) to prevent one board from bearing upon, catching into, or dislodging any hand or part of a hand. The hands are inserted by raising the outer end of each grip and sliding the hand under, and thereafter the coils exert a joint and several tension to hold the hand securely by their double-grip engagement therewith, and they are removed by sliding them out, either with or without removing the tension-grip.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination with a board of four independent U -shaped card-hand spring-grips, each having its arms secured to said board, and each arm having a pivotal coil projecting above the board substantially the thickness of a hand, whereby each hand is doubly gripped along the entire length of the separated transverse lines of said arms exterior to their pivots.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of May, 1897.

CHARLES N. DAMAN.

In presence of HOWARD P. DENISON, MARY A. FRANKLIN. 

